The Palestinian Authority continues to spread lies and libels about
Friday´s events on the Gaza beach, even though it now seems certain
that Israel was not responsible for the civilian deaths.

The latest PA story is that a Palestinian artist is in the hospital
with burns over his body after handling the shrapnel from
the "Israeli bombs." The bombs were then examined and found to give
off radiation, sup osedly because Israel had contaminated the bombs
with "depleted uranium."

The following is the story in the PA official daily, which is
under the control of the office of Mahmoud Abbas:

"The enemy committed its attacks on Gaza and killed its victims . My
friend, the sculptor and painter, Fayiz Al-Sarsawy, went to one of
the bombing sites... to collect the shrapnel of death that the
crazed bombing left in order to make a statue of the Palestinian
suffering. A friend who assists him would clean the shrapnel...

That night Fayiz received a unsettling call from his friend who
assists him: "I am talking to you from the hospital and I´m asking
you not to touch the shrapnel you´ve collected." An infection had
formed on the hand of this friend and spread to what looked like
burn marks on his skin. When he touched sensitive areas in his body
a suspicious swelling appeared.

Experts arrived and took samples of the shrapnel. Later, they asked
for all the shrapnel and explained: The shrapnel was treated with
some form of depleted uranium, that releases slow and dangerous
radiation.

This is not a movie from imagination of Rambo, but actual reality.
The shrapnel exists and can be shown to anyone interested. Yassir
Arafat warned us of the existence of Depleted Uranium in the Israeli
shrapnel, and the army uses Napalm."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 2006]